Etymologically
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πίμπλημι

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Pronunciation

  • 5th-century BC Attic: /pím.plɛː.mi/[1]
  • 4th-century AD Koine: /ˈpim.pli.mi/[1]
  • 10th-century Byzantine: /ˈpim.pli.mi/[1]

Forms

πῐ́μπλημῐ (pímplēmi) [1]

Etymology

It is inherited from Proto-Indo-European *pi-pléh₁- (“to fill”), a present with i-reduplication of the root *pleh₁- (“to fill, become full”);[2][3][1] the /m/ before /pl/ is a secondary nasal.[4][5] Its third singular πίμπλησι (pímplēsi) matches Avestan ham-pā-frāiti (“fills up”), and the aorist ἔπλησε (éplēse) matches Sanskrit अप्राः (áprās).[3][4][6] The plural πίμπλαμεν (pímplamen), with its short vowel, cannot regularly come from *pi-pl̥h₁-mé, and is a Greek innovation.[3][6] Other cognates are Sanskrit पिपर्ति (píparti), पृणाति (pṛṇā́ti, “fills”) and Latin -pleō (“to fill”).[1][2]

The same root gives πλήρης (plḗrēs, “full”), like Old Armenian լիր (lir, “fullness”) and Latin plērus (“most”), and πληθύς (plēthū́s, “crowd”), like plēbēs.[3] The intransitive πλήθω (plḗthō, “to be full”), which supplies the other tenses, has the suffix -θ-,[3][2][7] and the full grade *pelh₁- appears in πολύς (polús, “much”).[2]

Earliest recorded meaning

In Homer it means to fill a vessel or a bag, with a genitive of the contents (πλῆσαν πήρην σίτου, “they filled the bag with bread”), and to fill a person's heart with strength or courage; the aorist πλῆτο means “became full”.[5][7][8]

Semantic evolution

Hesiod and the Homeric poems also use it for filling a space, a plain with dust or a shore with ships.[8] In tragedy one fills an eye with tears, all Greece with tears.[7][8] The passive means to be filled or full, and Chantraine notes its use for a pregnant female.[6][8] In prose the compound ἐμπίμπλημι (empímplēmi) is more common, and the simple verb is very rare in late Greek.[7][6]

The Septuagint uses it more than a hundred times, also for being satisfied with food.[9] In Luke and Acts people are “filled” with the Spirit, with anger or fear, and time and prophecy are “fulfilled”.[10][11]

Timeline

  • Homer – The Iliad and the Odyssey use it for filling vessels and hearts.[5][7]
  • Before the 6th century BC – Hesiod uses it of filling a barn, and the old form πιμπλεῖσαι.[8][6][7]
  • 7th–6th century BC – Alcaeus has the Aeolic form πίμπλεισι.[7][8]
  • 5th century BC – Sophocles and Euripides use it of filling eyes and lands with tears.[7]
  • 5th–4th century BC – Xenophon has the imperfect ἐπίμπλασαν.[7]

Meanings

Verb

  1. To fill a vessel or container, with the genitive of what fills it.[7][8][5]
  2. To fill a space: a place with corpses, a plain with dust, paths with cries.[8][7]
  3. (passive) To be filled, become full (of people, water, light, sound).[8][7]
  4. To fill a person with an emotion or strength.[8][7]
  5. (passive) To be satisfied, sated.[9][6]
  6. (New Testament, passive) Of time and prophecy, to be fulfilled.[10][11]

Word family

  • ἀναπίμπλημι (anapímplēmi)
  • διαπίμπλημι (diapímplēmi)
  • ἐκπίμπλημι (ekpímplēmi)
  • ἐμπίμπλημι (empímplēmi)
  • καταπίμπλημι (katapímplēmi)
  • περιπίμπλαμαι (peripímplamai)
  • ἐπιπίμπλημι (epipímplēmi)
  • παραπίμπλημι (parapímplēmi)
  • ὑπερπίμπλημι (huperpímplēmi)
  • ὑποπίμπλημι (hupopímplēmi)
  • ἄπληστος (áplēstos)
  • ἄπλητος (áplētos)
  • πλέως (pléōs)
  • πλήθω (plḗthō)
  • πλήμη (plḗmē)
  • πλήρης (plḗrēs)
  • πλῆσμα (plêsma)
  • πλήσμη (plḗsmē)
  • πλήσμιος (plḗsmios)
  • πληθύς (plēthū́s)
  • πολύς (polús)
  • Latin pleō
  • Latin plērus

References

  1. ^ a b c d e f Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  2. ^ a b c d Rix, Helmut, et al. (2001), Lexikon der indogermanischen Verben, 2nd ed., Wiesbaden: Reichert
  3. ^ a b c d e Beekes, Robert S. P. (2010), Etymological Dictionary of Greek, with the assistance of Lucien van Beek, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 10, Leiden; Boston: Brill
  4. ^ a b Frisk, Hjalmar (1960–1972), Griechisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3 vols, Heidelberg: Carl Winter
  5. ^ a b c d Cunliffe, Richard John (1924), A Lexicon of the Homeric Dialect, London: Blackie and Son
  6. ^ a b c d e f Chantraine, Pierre (2009), Dictionnaire étymologique de la langue grecque: histoire des mots, new ed. with a supplement (Chroniques d'étymologie grecque 1–10), Paris: Klincksieck
  7. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m Liddell, Henry George; Scott, Robert; Jones, Henry Stuart (1940), A Greek-English Lexicon, 9th ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press
  8. ^ a b c d e f g h i j Diggle, James, et al., eds. (2021), The Cambridge Greek Lexicon, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press
  9. ^ a b Lust, Johan; Eynikel, Erik; Hauspie, Katrin (2003), Greek-English Lexicon of the Septuagint, rev. ed., Stuttgart: Deutsche Bibelgesellschaft
  10. ^ a b Abbott-Smith, G. (1922), A Manual Greek Lexicon of the New Testament, Edinburgh: T. & T. Clark
  11. ^ a b Bauer, Walter; Danker, Frederick W., et al. (2000), A Greek-English Lexicon of the New Testament and Other Early Christian Literature, 3rd ed., Chicago: University of Chicago Press